In your view, what is uselessly difficult in that language?
Thx :-)
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2006-09-14 23:44:12 · 16 answers · asked by Axel ∇ 5 in Society & Culture ➔ Languages
Well, I believe that everyone has a language that they learn easily.
Mine was French.
Yours may be Japanese, or Dutch, or Farsi.
Try to learn more languages, and when you find yours, you will know.
2006-09-15 05:48:21 · answer #1 · answered by Zachary J 3 · 1⤊ 0⤋
There's nothing that's "useless" in a language! And not just in rench (I'm French, so I don't want to seem biased).
Pronunciation seems to be the most difficult thing for people, but that comes with practice. It's like the "th" sound in English ("that" or "thing"). French people tend to say "zat" and "sing". just do your best, and after a while, you'll be bale to pronounce things "properly" (even if you still have an accent). As long as people understand you, that's fine!
For gender: there are NO rules. We just took it from Latin, and Latin had gender. When you learn a word, just use the pronoun in from: le chat, la table, le bol, la balle, le chapeau, la toilette... Always learn with the pronoun (check in dictionary), it will come in handy, and you'll just get used t it.
Grammar: well, you need to learn the rules! In Spanish, they also have a few rules and a lot of irregular verbs!!! But once you've learnt them, it's easy enough. However, I agree it can be annoying because at school, students used to not learn English irregular verbs.... How many are there? 60? And there are only 2 different forms! French students can be so lazy!!!
Anyway, good luck! Maybe you can find learning material on the Internet (listening material, etc.).
To learn a language faster, you need to speak it. So try to speak in class, even if you make mistakes!
2006-09-15 12:01:54 · answer #2 · answered by Offkey 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
French is also difficult to learn in that there are many irregularities, where Hindi is much more structured. There are no hard and fast rules for genders in French, and many nouns/verbs have irregular forms. French is a beautiful and rich language though, and it is always worth the effort to learn a new language.
2006-09-15 23:23:59 · answer #3 · answered by Nikhil O 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
I fully bilingual in English and Spanish which is many times a hindrance to acquiring French. The pronunciation is particularly difficult for me as I never hear the language spoken here in Chicago so it's difficult for me to understand it orally. Written French however is much easier for me to understand. I wish all of the French and Québecois films came with French subtitles. Only a handful of films come with them in French.
2006-09-15 11:03:41 · answer #4 · answered by elwingman 2 · 1⤊ 0⤋
My uselessly difficult list includes the following:
subjonctif (especially since you can just as easily use il faut + infinitiv rather than il faut que + subjonctif. Try it, it works!)
gender (not always as avoidable, go for plurals when needed)
the u sound, as in "tu" which could just as easily be pronounced like "tous" (I've been pronouncing it that way for years and even though it makes French people cringe they know exactly what I mean.)
the "p" sound which is actually more like halfway between an English "p" and "b" (again I pronounce it like in English, they cringe but understand)
passé simple--il fut and whatnot (even French people know it's useless and never use it, it just shows up on tests.)
2006-09-15 07:48:45 · answer #5 · answered by Goddess of Grammar 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
...because English is a language that has lost most of it's morphemes and other grammatical features. That makes it difficult for native English speakers to learn other (European) languages where that hasn't happened. French would be one of the easier ones, as it's very near English in Syntax and basic grammar.
. As for "useless" difficulty, the French would disagree and point out that any difficulties are other peoples' problems, they themselves are fine, thank you very much.
2006-09-15 07:55:28 · answer #6 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
I love French and found it easy enough to learn. I didn't mind the grammar (you just learn rules), my only problem was with the subjunctive. French is my favourite language!! My fave french phrase- Advienne que pourra.
2006-09-15 06:47:24 · answer #7 · answered by Lex 3 · 2⤊ 0⤋
uselessly difficult??? Why is a handbag masculine (le sac) and a moustache feminine (la moustache). tough language!
2006-09-15 06:53:01 · answer #8 · answered by titobos 1 · 1⤊ 0⤋
That's nothing, try German. I went to the German section of Yahoo answers and asked questions, and I couldn't even understand the answers. It was horrible.
But if you go to the French section of Yahoo answers, and ask questions, you will find that the answers are much easier to understand.
(Even worse than the German section is the Japanese section, I went there, and couldn't type one single word.)
2006-09-15 06:51:50 · answer #9 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 0⤋
The pronunciation, but I love french
2006-09-15 13:24:15 · answer #10 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋